Peruvian Chicken on the Big Green Egg

I don’t know about you but I just love the taste of Peruvian Chicken (Pollo a la Brasa). I did some research and crafted this recipe to make Peruvian Chicken on the Big Green Egg. In addition to the chicken recipe I will show you how to make the Green Sauce (Aji Verde)! I hope you enjoy making this as much as I did.

Pollo a la Brasa with Aji Verde

With any good recipe the trick is preparation. For this chicken to get that authentic flavor you should start the prep a day ahead letting the chicken marinate overnight as well as the flavors in the Green Sauce to come together.

First up is prepping the chicken. You need the following ingredients set out and ready for prep:

3 tablespoons olive oil

Lime juice from 2 limes

4 large garlic cloves chopped

1 tablespoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons sugar

4 pound whole chicken

Prepping the Chicken

Chop the garlic and add to olive oil in a small container you can use for a hand mixer. Or you can do all of this in a food processor. Whatever you have on hand to mix the ingredients well.

Chop the Garlic

Slice the 2 limes and squeeze the juice in to the garlic and oil.

Combining all the ingredients

Add the sugar, salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, and oregano. Mix together well until everything is emulsified.

Mix all the ingredients together

Now you want to move the skin away from the chicken breasts and thighs using your hand (or a spoon). Be careful not to tear the skin as we want that crispy chicken skin flavor later when this baby comes off the Big Green Egg!

Put most of the sauce under the skin and on the chicken breast meat and thighs. Take the rest of the sauce and rub it all over the bird. Cover the chicken and put in the fridge overnight. I cannot wait to eat this!!!

Cover the chicken in the marinade

Now let’s turn our focus to the Green Sauce (Aji Verde). This is that luscious and spicy green sauce served with the chicken at your favorite Peruvian Chicken restaurant. This is really easy to make and goes so well with the chicken.

For the Green Sauce you will need the following ingredients:

3 seeded and chopped jalapeño peppers (if you want more heat leave some or all of the seeds in)

1/4 cup sour cream (again I used light sour cream to cut some of the fat)

Juice from 1 fresh lime

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

Prepping the Aji Verde

I combined all of the ingredients (minus the olive oil) using my hand blender until smooth. With the hand blender still running I drizzled in olive oil. From there I put the sauce in a container and placed in the refrigerator overnight until it was ready to serve.

Green Sauce!

After 24 hours you are ready to start the Big Green Egg. You can cook this check many different ways on the Egg. This time I decided to go beer can style with indirect heat.

Peruvian Chicken Beer Can Style

I set the Big Green Egg up with the Plate Setter for indirect cooking. The temp at the dome was measuring 425° by the time I put the chicken in. You can use some wood to get additional smokey flavor. For this cook I decided to let the marinade give me all the bold flavor!

I put the chicken in the Big green Egg over top a drip pan to catch all the fat as it rendered off the bird.

The Chicken on the Egg!

I let that bird roast a little over an hour until the Thermapen read 165° when measuring the breast. I pulled the chicken off the Big Green Egg and let it rest for 15 minutes while we prepared Cilantro Rice.

Resting the Chicken

I served this beautiful chicken with a side of Cilantro Rice and the Aji Verde. So good!!! Enjoy…